The present invention relates to a chip carrier protective handler and more particularly to a protective handler which allows for simplicity of automation and robotic manipulation of the chip carrier in the protective handler.
The chip carrier in its most common form is a body of plastic or ceramic containing an integrated circuit either singly or in multiples with connecting leads extending on the perimeter of a generally rectangular flat package. As the number of leads required per chip has drastically increased while the body of the package has shrunk due to the electrical requirements, the new high density packages contain densely spaced, fragile, easily deformable leads.
These chip carriers, with fragile leads, must be handled during the process of burning-in, testing and imprinting of the final designating code and serial numbers. Once testing is complete, the chip carriers are finally fed through the machine for placement on the printed circuit board. This handling of the components in the workplace has resulted in damage and distortion of the leads which renders them useless. The distortion of the leads of such devices are easily damaged because they do not possess the sufficient mechanical strength and integrity required to overcome the insertion force required to insure positive electrical contact. The force which is required is of a magnitude which would permanently deform the chip carrier lead.
Since the leads are not capable of sustaining the force of the contacts from burn-in and other sockets, the protective handler must provide the means for aligning, positioning and supporting the leads of the chip carriers and must be able to withstand a large number of burn-in cycles lasting typically 40-80 hours at a temperature approaching 200.degree. C.
In an effort to provide the required protection, various chip carrier handlers have been devised. An example of such a chip carrier socket is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,880.
However, these chip carrier handlers suffer from several major problems. Many of the chip carrier handlers are large and bulky relative to the size of the chip carrier, preventing the chip carrier handler from being useful in circumstances where size must be minimized. Also, most of the chip carrier handlers were not designed with any consideration for use with a robotic handling device or for the positioning of leads during the high temperature "burn-in" cycle. Consequently, many of the chip carrier handlers cannot be adapted for use with robotic handling devices. This causes the price of testing, etc. to be effectively increased as manual labor must be used as compared to the use of cheaper robotic equipment.
Consequently, an optimal goal is to manufacture a chip carrier handler which is capable of properly protecting the integrated circuit while expending the least amount of material to manufacture the socket and the least amount of manual handling of the socket during testing, etc. It is therefore advantageous to provide a chip carrier handler capable of withstanding "burn-in" temperatures of up to 200.degree. C., which protects the integrated circuit from physical damage as well as allowing for robotic handling of the handler.